Herald Blogs

Amid the bad news that has dominated the cruise industry in the last week — a fire leaves the Costa Allegra stranded in the Indian Ocean; passengers on a Carnival Splendor shore excursion in Puerto Vallarta are robbed at gunpoint — come two hopeful signs:

Disney Cruise Line’s newest ship, the Disney Fantasy, arrived in New York Tuesday, where it will be christened Thursday.

And Royal Caribbean Cruises announced Wednesday that it has exercised its option to build another new ship, to be launched in spring 2015.

Although shipbuilding by the cruise lines has slowed considerably in the last few years, several of the larger lines — Royal Caribbean, Norwegian, Princess — have ships on order or under construction for delivery in 2013 through 2015.

This year, three more new ships will be launched in Europe, then sail to Miami in November or December. The Oceania Riviera will be christened May 11 in Barcelona; the Carnival Breeze will sail in Europe beginning June 3; and the Celebrity Reflection will enter service in October.

In addition, two companies will launch steamboat cruises on the Mississippi River this year: The 436-passenger American Queen, a former Delta Queen ship now owned by the Great American Steamship Co., will be christened April 27 in Memphis, and American Cruise Line's 140-passenger Queen of the Mississippi, a new ship, will enter service in August.

Thursday’s ceremony for the Disney Fantasy, the first christening of a Disney ship to be held elsewhere than Port Canaveral, is an acknowledgement of a new relationship between the line and New York. The Disney Magic, one of the line’s two smaller and older ships, will spend this summer in New York, cruising to eastern Canada and the Bahamas.

After the christening, the 4,000-passenger Disney Fantasy will sail to Port Canaveral, where it will embark on the first of its week-long cruises to the Caribbean on March 31.

The new Royal Caribbean ship, as yet unnamed, will be built at the Meyer Werft shipyard in Germany and will be the line’s second Sunshine-class ship. The first, now under construction, is to be delivered in fall of 2014. The two ships, smaller than Allure of the Seas, the world’s biggest cruise ship, will hold 4,100 passengers.

Airfares are rising. The airlines have increased fares twice already this year, the Associated Press reports, and they’re likely to jump again this spring as people book their summer vacation flights.

The main reason? Fuel prices — the same villain that is making you think about cutting down the length of your next road trip. The spot price of jet fuel rose 18 percent between January 2011 and January 2012. As for your road trip, gasoline prices jumped 30 cents in just the last month.

For roadtrippers who struggle to exercise and eat healthy while traveling, here’s good news.

InterContinental Hotels Group, which owns Holiday Inn, Candlewood and other chains, on Tuesday announced it will launch a new chain with hotels that will have more space and possibly even exercise equipment in rooms, a large gym, and a marketplace where guests can purchase smoothies, salads and other healthy food.

The first hotel in the Even chain will open early next year, the company said.

For those of us who don’t do so well at healthy travel, this means we’ll have one less excuse.

Fellow roadtrippers, the state of Alabama has taken note of our kind. The tourism department has plotted 100 road trips throughout the state and posted the first 10 for people to follow. A caveat: The road trips are really just a list of suggested places to visit within a certain region and some information on lodgings. There are no starting or ending points, no information about mileage from Point A to Point B or how long it takes to drive that distance -- the kind of information a good road-trip itinerary requires. But they make a fine starting point, and I expect to use the information when I take a road trip along the Alabama coast this spring. Happy trails!

At the beginning of the year, Forbes magazine listed what it said were the 10 most anticipated hotel openings of 2012. The first and the last on the list were in Miami, and on Sunday, I got a tour of the first, the St. Regis in Bal Harbour.

The St. Regis, on Collins Avenue immediately across from Bal Harbour Shops, opened a month agowith 243 rooms in the hotel plus two residence towers. The hotel’s fanciest restaurant is J&G Grill, by Jean-Georges Vongerichten, offering Peekytoe crab cake, black truffle pizzas, roasted grouper, and grilled veal chop. The 14,000-square-foot spa (and bathroom amenities) are by Remede. The complex has 1,000 feet of oceanfront beach, two pools and cabanas that run $500+ a day.

Forbes chose the St. Regis, in part, for its glam ambiance. It was hard not to be dazzled by the décor, especially the high-ceilinged lobby with its upside-down-rosebud chandeliers of rock crystal, the faceted mirror walls, and the elegant wine vault that is part of the lobby bar.

Standard rooms run $400-$800; suites run well into four figures or more. Every room has an ocean view from a balcony of about 200 square feet or larger (the presidential suite has a 1,200-square-foot balcony). Marc Rapp, the butler who gave me and another journalist the tour, said the allure of the balconies, with their lounge chairs plus table and chairs, is such that a higher-than-usual percentage of guests order room-service meals. Looking at the view of palm-lined sand and dramatically green water, I could see why.

The other Miami hotel on the Forbes list is the James Royal Palm, a renovation of the historic Royal Palm hotel, scheduled to open at the end of 2012. Click here for the complete list.

Our minds are on the movies, especially the big winner, The Artist, so Roadtripping brings you movie travel.

First up, inspired by The Artist, a silent movie and Best-Picture winner, is an article on sites in Los Angeles that starred in silent movies from the first part of the 20th century. I never knew that the classic scene of Harold Lloyd dangling from a clock in Safety First was filmed downtown, just a few miles from where I grew up. You'll find that article here.

Great Britain’s tourism agency, VisitBritain, is also looking for a piece of film lovers’ action. It has compiled a list of seven Oscar contenders filmed in Great Britain. That list follows as well.

And finally, Fodor’s Travel lists its eight top destinations for visiting movie locales, from Hawaii to small-town Mississippi, and from exotic Bangkok to the old train stations of Paris and London. You can find that story here.

How’s this for a weekend getaway: You and a bunch of people charter a commercial airliner, practice emergency evacuation drills, fly to the Boeing 737 factory and the American Airlines operations center.

Fun, huh? There’s a good reason we prefer roadtripping.

But follow this link and read about 160 people who paid to take just such a getaway. One called it the “ultimate airplane nerd event.”

They are frequent fliers extraordinaire, people who take extra flights at the end of the year to ensure they have enough miles to qualify for elite status, who can brag about the luxury trips they paid for with their miles, and who know far more trivia about airplanes and airlines than most of the rest of us would even want to know. Whatever powers your engines …

A reminder that Legoland Florida is a work in progress: The theme park recently reworked the Grand Carousel that it inherited from Cypress Gardens. The original steeds have been replaced with Lego-themed horses.

A bigger project is the renovation of Splash Island Water Park, which will open May 26 with new Lego theming. Here’s a rendering of Joker Soaker, which will be the centerpiece of the water park, with slides and a bucket that dumps 300 gallons of water on guests. The park will also have a Build-A-Raft lazy river, where guests design their own rafts with Lego accessories; a gentle wave pool; the Duplo Splash Safari for toddlers; and other features. Admission to the water park will be a $12 add-on to Legoland admission.

Also coming to Legoland: the Warner Brothers Game Zone, where kids can play new Lego video games, including a new Batman game due out later this year; and the Fresh From Florida Greenhouse Tour, where guests will learn how Florida produce is grown, harvested and prepared (sponsored by Fresh From Florida, an outreach program of the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services). Both are scheduled to open in March.

Travelzoo, a publisher of travel deals, is recommending that travelers go a little farther afield than Cancun or Panama City Beach for Spring Break. The company reports significant deals for travel to Europe in the spring, as well as discounts on spring cruises. Here is Travelzoo’s report on five European destinations offering value for Spring Break, along with links to sites where you can find deals (and our notes on prices from Miami). Prices are for midweek flights, when fares are lowest:

1. Dublin: Guinness straight from the source. St. Patrick's Day in Ireland. You'll come back from the Emerald Isle with a lilt in your speech and a few extra bucks in your pocket --roundtrip fares in March from New York City are about $500 (we found $756 from Miami).

2. Istanbul: Travelzoo has been seeing some unreal fares to Istanbul -- close to $600 roundtrip from the States, taxes included ($880 from Miami). That leaves plenty of coin to shop the city's bazaars or plan a boat ride through the Bosphorus.

3. Berlin: Once a symbol of Cold War confrontation, Berlin is now an art mecca featuring aggressively priced hotels and a chic "boho" vibe. Some of the best works of art are beyond museum walls -- the Berlin Cathedral and Reichstag dome are among the must-sees in the German capital. March fares out of NYC are around $765 on Lufthansa ($866 from Miami).

4. London: Summer fares to London will skyrocket, but spring fares are still affordable. British Airways and Virgin Atlantic often have the best fares to see Big Ben -- but if you are flying from the LA, look at Air New Zealand. This carrier often has fares for less than $800 roundtrip -- only about $100 more than fares out of NYC (Fly.com found flights on USAirways from Miami at $787).

5. Barcelona: Barcelona is a city where eating and drinking until the wee hours of the night is... just your average Tuesday night. Fill the days with Gaudi, walks through the Barri Gotic and tapas. Current fares are about $700 from New York to this Catalan city on the Mediterranean coast and just $750 from Seattle or San Francisco (we found $687 from Miami).

What is traveling like when you or your companion is in a wheelchair, on a scooter, or walking with the help of a cane or a walker? It depends on whether the sidewalk has been torn up by tree roots and left unrepaired, whether there are curb cuts, whether stairs have handrails. It depends on whether a hotel doorway is wide enough to admit a wheelchair, whether there are grab bars in the shower, whether the elevator is working.

Here is some help in finding out.

Michell Haase travels with her daughter, Kelsey, who has spina bifida and is a wheelchair athlete. Spurred by the difficulties she and Kelsey encountered while traveling, last year she launched a website, TravelinWheels, which gives people with disabilities and their traveling companions a forum to share information about destinations and their accessibility.

Among the features on TravelinWheels are guides to some destinations -- this month the spotlight is on London, just in time for the Paralympic Games, which open Aug. 29. The site has links to downloadable Health Radio podcasts aimed at travelers with disabilities, Michell’s blog, a newsletter and other information. You can find her website here.

Haase also offers these tips for traveling by air. She made these recommendations for Spring Break travel, but this advice makes sense year-round.

T– TSA – Visit TravelinWheels.com to print off a letter stating your rights as a traveler with disabilities and share them with the TSA screener. They deal with so many travelers in a day and they may not remember, so a friendly reminder is always helpful.

R –Remember to bring bubble wrap and duct tape to wrap your wheelchair or walker. This will help prevent any in-flight damage when they are checked at the gate. The last thing you need is a damaged chair upon arrival.

A – Alert your carrier to your needs and arrive early to prevent any issues with last minute gate changes.

V – Visibility is key.Locate a waiting spot by the airline gate check-in area and stay there until you board. This way you are visible to the agent who is often dealing with more than 100 passengers in a 15-20 minute period. This will help them remember they have a passenger who needs priority boarding.

E - Eliminate use of cash. Consider using credit cards as much as possible to prevent cash from being dropped, etc.

L –Leave identification, prescriptions and any other “need-to-get to” paperwork with you by way of a lanyard for easy accessibility.